Sports

Colorado State seniors Gian Clavell, left, and Emmanuel Omogbo are each in the running to be named the Mountain West player of the year, an honor the Rams haven't had since 1990. (Sean Star / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

FORT COLLINS — The race for the Mountain West Player of the Year is headed down the backstretch, and Colorado State has two horses in the lead pack.

At this point, choosing between guard Gian Clavell and forward Emmanuel Omogbo is like splitting hairs. CSU coach Larry Eustachy considers them co-MVPs, "attached at the hip as far as importance."

Their time at CSU has been relatively short, about two full seasons each, but their performance this year alone has earned them consideration as the one of the top tandems the program has ever produced, given its history.

Having not one but two conference player of the year candidates is about as rare as it gets for CSU basketball considering it's been nearly three decades since a Ram has won the award, going all the way back to 1990 when Mike Mitchell led the Rams to the second of back-to-back WAC titles.

And yet, Omogbo and Clavell are a 1-2 punch that in a lot of ways happened by accident, a dynamic duo that nearly split apart over the summer and one that only recently truly came together.

The two seniors are playing so well right now (averaging a combined 32.9 points and 17.2 rebounds) you would think they've been playing together for years. However, Tuesday's home finale against Wyoming will be just their 30th game together, equivalent to one full season, making their rapidly developed chemistry one of the biggest reasons for their team's surprising run to the top of the Mountain West.

"I think that's a great story in itself," Eustachy said. "It's not required that all players get along to win championships, because I've done it before.

Advertisement

Advertisement

"These guys are obviously individuals, they're different from each other, but the bond they've produced together in the last year is really, really cool to see, because I don't think they were really close friends off the court, but I think they are now. That's really the storyline of this season, these two guys really coming together as one, and learning how to play together and learning how to lead a team together."

A number of events transpired over the years in order for Clavell and Omogbo to be where they are now, the two best players on a team that is just two wins away from its first regular season title in 27 years.

Both had Division I offers coming out of high school but had to go the junior college route after failing to qualify academically, and both eventually ended up in Fort Collins largely because of former CSU assistant coach Ross Hodge, who's currently in his first season as the associate head coach at Arkansas State.

Even still, Clavell's senior season should have been long over by now. But after hand and shoulder injuries limited him to 10 games last season in what was originally supposed to be his senior year, he was granted an extra year of eligibility, allowing him to return for the 2016-17 season. Had he played just one more game a season ago, he would have exceeded the NCAA's 30 percent threshold when considering eligibility waivers.

That's not all. Even though Clavell was cleared to return over the summer, it was no guarantee he was going to come back and play for the Rams. The same could be said for Omogbo.

After Hodge and fellow former CSU assistant Leonard Perry — who were both very close to the two seniors — left the program for other coaching jobs in early April, both Clavell and Omogbo considered transferring.

Clavell said he thought about earning his degree at CSU and then becoming a graduate transfer, just like John Gillon, who's now at Syracuse.

Omogbo, meanwhile, could have also transferred to another Division I school without sitting out a year because of the personal tragedy he suffered last January, when both of his parents, along with his niece and nephew, died in a house fire in Omogbo's hometown just outside of Washington D.C.

Omogbo said at one point there was a 95 percent chance he was leaving CSU — to which Clavell said "that's almost two of us."

Both, of course, ending up staying in Fort Collins, citing their loyalty to Eustachy and a sense the Rams could accomplish something special this year.

"I just felt like everybody was leaving, and I didn't want to leave anybody hanging, because my parents always tell me go hard for people who put their name on the line for you," Omogbo said. "I feel like (Eustachy) already showed me he could do stuff like that for me, so why wouldn't I put my name on the line?"

"Every time I thought about it, I thought about Coach. I was like, 'you know what, no.'" Clavell said. "I would ride with Coach Eustachy no matter what. Wherever he goes, I go."

Fast forward about nine months, and things could not have worked out much better for the Rams.

Despite their limited time playing time together, the duo has proven to be quite the combo, complemented perfectly by a young supporting cast that includes the likes of Prentiss Nixon, J.D. Paige and Nico Carvacho.

So how were Omogbo and Clavell able come together so well in such a short period of time?

"If you have two good players on the team, if they're both humble and selfless, I think it'll work out for both of them," Omogbo said. "That's what we are. We're both humble and selfless. I think (Clavell) should get the player of the year. He thinks I should get the player of the year."

As Eustachy mentioned, the two weren't exactly best friends from the beginning. But over time they've developed a stronger relationship that became even closer after seeing how the other dealt with adversity — Omogbo's family tragedy and Clavell getting arrested twice in the span of 16 months (with the charges dropped both times).

"He struggled with his situation. I struggled with mine. That plays a part into the way we're playing. We're not taking anything for granted," said Clavell, who was suspended for the first nine games this season, limiting his chance to play alongside Omogbo even more. "When something gets taken away from you, it's hard, it's really hard. All the expectations that you have, and you don't get to do them right away, it's either you're tough or you quit. That shows the toughness that we got.

"His situation's way different than mine. It's way harder. But each person's situation is hard. That just tells you the toughness that we've got and the type of players Coach recruits."

Of course it also helps that both are incredibly talented and likely have a future in the game beyond CSU. You can go on and on about the strengths of each player, but it's probably easier to talk about what they don't do well on the court. Which isn't much.

"They've very, very well-rounded players for their position. They really don't have a weakness," Eustachy said. "What weakness do these guys have, either of them? They really don't.

"I don't think they came in that way. I think they came in, and give them credit, we think there's a way you should play and they bought into it."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.